France:Hegenheim

HEGENHEIM, town in the Haut-Rhin department, E. France, 3 mi. (5 km.) W. of Basle. Fourteen Jewish families were recorded here in the census of 1689; the community increased steadily until in 1784, with 409 persons, it was one of the three largest in Alsace. From then onward, however, the numbers rapidly declined, and in 1936 only 36 Jews remained. The community had owned a cemetery from 1672, which served many other Jewish communities in Upper Alsace and from the 19th century was also used by the Jews of Switzerland. A monument has been erected in this cemetery in memory of the victims of the Nazi persecution.